Once Upon an Upset

A story about a flamingo who attends school with a community of polar bears and has trouble meeting expectations.(Suitable for all ages.)

“Once upon a time there was an anguished cave mother who finally couldn’t take it anymore. Every night, she’d arrive back to her cave after hunting and gathering all day long, ready to fall asleep on her cozy boulder, but every night, without fail, her little ones would insist on a story before bed. And back then, without a book to close, a goodnight story could go on and on until almost dawn.  In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for poor prehistoric mothers to miss out on sleep entirely because of little ones begging and pleading for the thousandth time, “Please Mama, tell us what happened next!!! Please, Please, Please!!” But one day, this particular anguished mother just couldn’t think of what happened next.”— From 'The Origins Of Happily Ever After'(Suitable for all ages.)This episode was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.New episodes every Wednesday!For illustrations, episode transcripts, children’s books and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.

“Once, there was a man who had a secret. A pretty big secret. You see, even though he looked like a regular man, inside he was really a pigeon.” — from 'A Pigeon At Heart'A Pigeon At Heart is a story about a man who felt it was easier to pretend to be someone he wasn’t. Until someone found out the truth of who he really was…(Suitable for all ages.)A Pigeon At Heart was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.New episodes every Wednesday!For illustrations, episode transcripts, children’s books and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.

“Robert Baker had the flu, so he stayed home from work. He was told by his wife and also by his doctor to rest. But he couldn’t. He tossed and he turned and then gave up to watch TV in the living room.”— FROM "CHANNEL 15 ½"Channel 15 ½ is about a man who fears the whole world is against him and discovers it’s true. Sort of.(Suitable for tweens, teens and adults.)Channel 15 ½ was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.New episodes every Wednesday!For illustrations, episode transcripts, children’s books and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.

“Once upon a time in a town called Thornling, sass and backtalk were taking over. Kids wouldn’t lift a finger and the moms were going gray from stress…”— from 'The Shears of Thornling’The Shears of Thornling is a story about a town that discovers their old-fashioned ways of solving behavior problems aren’t always the best.(Suitable for all ages.)The Shears of Thornling was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.For illustrations, episode transcripts, merchandise and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.

My son has lost a lot of people in his life already, and he often asks me to call my mother on my heart-phone so he can talk with her. I do a pretty good imitation of my mother and try to imagine what she’d say. Sometimes it really does feel like I’m channeling her. This is one of those conversations.(Suitable for all ages.)Channeling My Son’s Grand-Mère was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.New episodes every Wednesday!For illustrations, episode transcripts, merchandise and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.

A poem for children and families experiencing loss and grief, based on my book Anchors in the Storm.(Suitable for all ages.)Anchors in the Storm was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.New episodes every Wednesday!For illustrations, episode transcripts, merchandise and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.

“My name is Redmond but everyone calls me Mean Red because I’m mean. I heard a couple people whispering about me the other day. They were wondering why I’m so mean. And it got me thinking. I’ve known for a while that I’m good at being mean because I make a lot of kids cry. But I never really thought about how I got this way. So I thought about it and remembered.”-from ‘Mean Red’A mean boy tells the story of how he became mean.(Suitable for all ages.)Mean Red was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.New episodes every Wednesday!For illustrations, episode transcripts, merchandise and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.

“Once there was a mother and a son who were having trouble connecting. They used to connect all the time. I mean that’s ALL they did. But then little things started getting in their way. And those little things stacked up, like a wall between them. It used to be they would play all day. On the floor with trains or Legos. They’d make up stories that lasted hours, sometimes even days. The mother was tired. But her boy meant everything to her, so when he wanted to connect, she was pretty good at pretending she was wide awake. But then she stopped being good at pretending.”— from 'How To Connect When You're Having Trouble Connecting'A story about a mother and her tween son who wanted to connect but had a wall between them.(Suitable for tweens, teens and adults.)How To Connect When You're Having Trouble Connecting was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.New episodes every Wednesday!For illustrations, episode transcripts, merchandise and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.

“Katie McKeever was the new girl in third grade. Katie McKeever was perfect. She didn’t walk, she did back handsprings. She received standing ovation after ovation not only from her peers but from her teachers, some of whom skipped their lunch breaks just to watch her on the balance beam. It was at that moment I knew I had to be a gymnast. Unfortunately, a gymnast I was not. I took one fall off the balance beam and had to be rushed to the nurse’s office.”— from 'The Girl Who Wanted To Be Someone Else’(Suitable for all ages.)The Girl Who Wanted To Be Somebody Else was written by Jessica Laurel Kane; music by Jerome Rossen at Freshmade Music.New episodes every Wednesday!For illustrations, episode transcripts, merchandise and more, visit www.onceuponanupset.com.